Save MG Rover

That's a complete fallacy. A lot of companies produce cars that are in >truth just as old as that. A bit of new styling here, new components >there. Most models around today are based on earlier models, and the >companies are more than keen to use the same name for the revised model. >Of all the varieties of cars that you yourself have never actually >owned, how much do you *actually* know about what lies underneath the >surface of the "latest model"?

On the other hand, Phoenix gave people jobs for a few more years than>> they would have had them under Alchemy.>

In hindsight it might have been better if Alchemy had kept fewer people >in jobs for a longer period of time, rather than the other way round. A >lot of people were eager to daemonise them as asset-strippers at the >time, but who turned out to the real devils?

So, either BMW and SAIC are both stupid, or the British public are >>>stupid and just can't help but do themselves down at every opportunity. >>>I know which I believe.>>

Neither. The public are staying away in droves from old outdated>> products. The MG brand means nothing to anyone under 40 - to me in my>

That's utter nonsense. MGs are very popular, especially with women. And >those under 40, too. The comparisons between the R75 and the S-type are >perfectly just.>

mid-thirties it reminds me of the MG Maestro and the MG Metro. Hardly>> sportscar icons.>

My God, why is it that you insist on assuming that because MG-Rover >produced the Maestro, any other new MG *must* be equally bad? And yet no >such assumption (from I judge of the opinions I hear) is ever applied to >any other brand from any other country!

Much is made of German and French patriotism in buying their>> home-grown products. If I was German I'd be happy to choose between>> BMW, Mercedes, Audi or Volkswagen. In the UK we can choose between>> Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Land Rover, Ford etc etc and still support UK>> workforces.>

It's not just about workforces, it's about engineering and design too. >You should have watched James Dyson's Dimbleby lecture last year, for >example. It's of vital strategic importance that design and engineering >leadership and skills are retained. After all, when the Chinese take >over the world economy in a few decades' time, how are you going to feel >if we depend on them for all our technology and design? It isn't just >about having a job on a production line. It's also about being in >control of those who designs the products. To put one aspect of the >problem in rather simplistic tersm as an example, do you think the >Chinese designers will care as much about the needs and desires of 50 >million Britons when they have 1 billion of their own customers to keep >happy? Do you want a drive a car designed for a 6ft British male and >British roads, or a 5ft6 Chinese male and Chinese roads?